The plot of this episode is based on a real-life incident in 2013 when a public relations executive named Justine Sacco tweeted, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" right before boarding a 12-hour flight and similarly having no knowledge of the furor it caused.
The title of this episode is a reference to the show Don't Trust the B- - - - in Apartment 23.
Marks the fifth 2 or 3-parter in the show's history (without counting the hour long specials which were only split up for broadcast).
Peter ordering shepherd's pie is a parody of a scene from the movie Five Easy Pieces with Jack Nicholson.
This episode and the two that followed on this story were all inspired by Jon Ronson's non-fiction book "So You've Been Publicly Shamed", which is about the ways that the Internet and social media have led to people being (rightly or wrongly) condemned and punished for various actions that pissed off large groups of people. The Justine Sacco tweet example is the most direct correlation to what Brian does and what happens next, since both cases involve an inoffensive and racist-sounding "joke" and the public shaming ruining the life of the "guilty party".